What happened
On 27 January 2007, a pilot was conducting a private flight in a Moyes Litespeed S4 hang glider. The flight originated from the Eagles Nest flying site in Rustenburg, with the intention of landing at Aviators Paradise near Hartebeespoortdam. During the flight, the pilot failed to reach the intended destination, prompting club members to launch an official search operation. This search effort included the assistance of two light aircraft and utilized cellular location data provided by Vodacom Locate to narrow the search area.
Approximately five hours after the initial accident, the wreckage was discovered on Farm Sonnhof, near Kroondal, east of Rustenburg. Although the pilot was still alive when search teams and paramedics reached the site, he succumbed to his injuries while being transported to the hospital via ambulance.
The investigation
Investigators examined the wreckage and the circumstances surrounding the flight to determine the sequence of events leading to the impact. The investigation focused on the pilot's maneuvers during the flight and the structural failure of the glider. Meteorological data at the time indicated a temperature of 30°C with SSE winds between 5 and 15 knots.
Findings
Evidence gathered at the scene indicated that the pilot was attempting to gain altitude by thermalling when the aircraft entered a stall condition. This maneuver caused the glider's tail to slide, leading the aircraft to go inverted. As the pilot fell into the keel tube, the structural integrity of the glider was compromised; the tube failed, causing the sail to tear from the nose to the center trailing edge. The resulting loss of structural stability caused the Moyente Litespeed S4 to break apart before hitting the ground. The primary cause was identified as the aircraft entering a whipstall due to thermal turbulence, from which the pilot was unable to recover.